Judges 13

Judges 13Names of God Bible (NOG)

The Messenger of the Lord Appears to Samson’s Parents

13 The people of Israel again did what Yahweh considered evil. So Yahweh handed them over to the Philistines for 40 years.

2 There was a man from Zorah named Manoah. Manoah was from the family of Dan. His wife was not able to have children. 3 The Messenger of Yahweh appeared to her and said, “You’ve never been able to have a child, but now you will become pregnant and have a son. 4 Now you must be careful. Don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean[a] food. 5 You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to Elohim from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

6 The woman went to tell her husband. She said, “A man of Elohim came to me. He had a very frightening appearance like the Messenger of Elohim. So I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 He told me, ‘You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. So don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean food because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to Elohim from the time he is born until he dies.’”

8 Then Manoah pleaded with Yahweh, “Please, Adonay, let the man of Elohim you sent come back to us. Let him teach us what we must do for the boy who will be born.”

9 Elohim did what Manoah asked. The Messenger of Elohim came back to his wife while she was sitting out in the fields. But her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran quickly to tell her husband. She said, “The man who came to me the other day has just appeared to me again.”

11 Manoah immediately followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

“Yes,” he answered.

12 Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, how should the boy live and what should he do?”

13 The Messenger of Yahweh answered Manoah, “Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her to do. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevines, drink any wine or liquor, or eat any unclean food. She must be careful to do everything I commanded.”

15 Manoah said to the Messenger of Yahweh, “Please stay while we prepare a young goat for you to eat.”

16 But the Messenger of Yahweh responded, “If I stay here, I will not eat any of your food. But if you make a burnt offering, sacrifice it to Yahweh.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the Messenger of Yahweh.)

17 Then Manoah asked the Messenger of Yahweh, “What is your name? When your words come true, we will honor you.”

18 The Messenger of Yahweh asked him, “Why do you ask for my name? It’s a name that works miracles.”

19 So Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and sacrificed them to Yahweh on a rock he used as an altar. While Manoah and his wife watched, the Lord did something miraculous. 20 As the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Messenger of Yahweh went up in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they immediately bowed down with their faces touching the ground.

21 The Messenger of Yahweh didn’t appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that this had been the Messenger of Yahweh. 22 So Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die because we have seen Elohim.”

23 But Manoah’s wife replied, “If Yahweh wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He would not have let us see or hear all these things just now.”

24 So the woman had a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up, and Yahweh blessed him. 25 The Ruach Elohim began to stir in him while he was at Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Footnotes:

Judges 13:4“Unclean” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is not presentable to God.

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